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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Pokemon Go: The Popular Augmented Reality App Game

Seems like almost everyone is into Pokémon Go. I've seen people posting about it and even seen it on the news channel mentioning about it.


What's Pokémon Go all about? It is developed by Niantic, Inc., and is built using real world locations through augmented reality. It allows players to go explore outside and discover Pokemon's to capture, battle, and collect more balls or find Pokémon eggs at "PokéStops". See the official website here: http://pokemon.com/go

The app is available on IOS and Android devices and is currently only available to the U.S. There is no news yet of when it will release in Canada. I was able to download the app on my iPhone by signing into my US account that I created a while back.

[EDIT: As of Sunday, July 17th, 2016, The PokemonGO app is now available in Canada and worldwide.]

Shortly after the game release, my hubby started playing it and then I decided to join in. Even our son got hooked (he's a huge Pokemon fan). I don't usually play much games on my iPhone, but I thought I's give Pokemon Go a try. Here is my start up character and starter Pokémon (Pikachu).


Your starter Pokémon would be either capturing Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle (these are of the Generation 1 starter Pokémons). There's also a hidden 4th option. It's Pikachu. See the following tip below.

TIPS:

* To get Pikachu as your starter, there is a trick: Don't capture the mentioned ones above. Instead, just walk away from them. They will "teleport" or follow you. So after 5 attempts, Pikachu will pop up.

* For any PokéStops, it resets after 5 minutes and you can collect your PokéBalls again from the same spot.

* If you see pink hearts floating around a PokéStop, a player has placed the Lure Module which attracts Pokémon to a landmark for 30 minutes.


* If you see some floating green leaves, it means there is a Pokémon nearby.

* Turning off the camera (the augmented-reality layer) usually help players capture Pokémon more successfully.

* When catching Pokémons, the circles you'll see let you know the difficulty level for catching them. The easy ones have green circles, medium ones have yellow circles and difficult ones have red circles.

* Tap and hold your Pokéball to make the color circles to contract and expand. If you throw your ball at the colored circle when it’s at its smallest, you’ll get extra experience points and a better chance of capturing your Pokémon.

* If you have duplicate Pokémons, you can transfer them to the professor for Pokémon candy which you'll need to evolve the Pokémon.

* Throwing a curveball gets you more XP, but it can be difficult. Hold down your Pokeball and swirl your finger around it to get it to spin to throw a curveball.

* After you reach level 5, you can join teams and access Gyms (the larger structures in addition to the PokéStops).

PROs: fun; encourages players to get out and get active; opportunity to explore

CONs: quickly drains batteries (due to the screen constantly on); uses WiFi so not every location will have access

REMEMBER: Please play safe, be aware of surroundings and use common sense. Also supervise young children if they are playing the game with you.


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